Bafana Nhleko is taking confidence from a disappointed Junior Springboks changeroom following the hard-fought opening World U20 Championship win over Georgia on Saturday.
The Junior Springboks got their U20 Championship campaign off to a winning start by battling to a 33-23 victory over a spirited Georgia side that was rarely out of the contest in Stellenbosch
Following a solid first half, the hosts went into the break with a 12-point lead, but Georgia came out flying in the second period and reduced the deficit to just two points.
A solid goal-kicking performance from flyhalf Jean Smith and an excellent bit of opportunism from centre Ethan Hooker was what steered the Junior Boks to a nervy win.
“I am happy with the win,” head coach Nhleko said after the match. “Sometimes you have to be realistic with the fact that it won’t always be easy and even though you are at home, there are other factors. I am really happy with the win.
“The one thing I will take heart from is that I walked into a changeroom that is extremely disappointed and we had to get them up and make them understand this is significant. We can only build going forward, that’s all we can do.”
Nhleko said he was most pleased with the team’s first-half performance, where they matched the powerful Georgian set-piece, and in the way his side worked their way back into the ascendancy after losing a player to the sin bin.
“I’m proud of the boys, proud of the character they showed. In the first half, we were good at sticking to our systems, but in the second half, not so much. The momentum went away from us, especially when we went down to 14 men. I thought we did well to stem their momentum so we could get back on top again.
“Our leadership group was good today and our game drivers controlled it. In the first half, our set piece coped with them, that gave us the confidence to play the way we wanted to play. They are very good at scrumming and mauls. Once we got parity there, we felt confident in the rest of our game.
“It was tough today, for various reasons. I’m just glad with the first win.”
Nhleko said the Junior Boks were ready for a situation where they would be on the back foot, adding that there are a couple of things to work on before the next pool match against Italy in Paarl on Thursday.
“We discussed it during the camps, that at some point, in a Test match, the opposition will have all the momentum. It’s about painting the right pictures for the referee, and understanding what you need to do to get back on top.
“Georgia were desperate. They started exposing us. We needed to calm down a bit and get back into what we know works for us.
“We were a little bit tight on defence. I will have to look at it. A couple of times they got around us, it is something we will have to look at and understand why it happened. We also need to understand the interpretation of the set piece and other things. It’s too early to say, we still need to look at it.
“The biggest thing is to get the boys fresh for Thursday because it is such a short turnaround.”
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